Deflate-gate? Report: Patriots being investigated for using deflated footballs

[rightwinger]

I can't believe that after one of the greatest comebacks in NFL history we spend the week discussing psi in footballs

 

[ChrisL]

the hilarious thing is that considering their performance in the second half obviously they didn't need to cheat. Maybe it was just like a baby pacifier and now that they don't need to cheat and they won't but they sure are taking a beating over it.

Or, is this just some sort of BS publicity stunt?

Could very well be, I don't put anything the Pats.

IF it were a publicity stunt, it would be the NFL organization who was behind orchestrating it, not the Patriots. The NFL cares most about making money.

 

[Freewill]

the hilarious thing is that considering their performance in the second half obviously they didn't need to cheat. Maybe it was just like a baby pacifier and now that they don't need to cheat and they won't but they sure are taking a beating over it.

Or, is this just some sort of BS publicity stunt?

Could very well be, I don't put anything the Pats.

I think we all know that nothing is going to come from this incident.

But, usually the NFL, or anyone else holds off on comments until they are pretty sure of the facts. The NFL came out pretty soon afterwards so I am thinking they have been looking into this in other games and already know the truth.

Now they are huddled up letting the free publicity run it course and then they will slap the Pats on the wrist and that will be it. If they even do that much.

One thing that will come out of it is that the Pats won't cheat with the footballs.

 

[Freewill]

I can't believe that after one of the greatest comebacks in NFL history we spend the week discussing psi in footballs

Great for whom?

Start a thread, call it the incredible luck of the Irish.

 

[Freewill]

I wonder if anyone knows the first time this was brought to attention of the NFL was after the first Colts Pats game this year. Brady threw two ints and the equipment manager had access to both of those balls. He saw the balls were under pressure and it was significant.

Hence, the reasons why the refs checked the ball pressure are half time of the championship game. The first game was in a dome and the weather was not a factor.

Those of you bringing up that the Pats won the game continue to use a fallacy. That is totally irrelevant. No one mentions who won a game if a baseball player is caught corking their bat or if a pitcher doctors the baseball. It is not part of the conversation. It is all about the fact that they were caught altering the official ball, outside of regulations which is in essence......CHEATING.

Sorry, this is not a gray area. This is black and white. Cheating is cheating. I know it is hard to hear for the Pats fans, but that is what it is. Now, spare us with the temperature, or there is no proof they did anything (11 balls were way under and that is not a debate and all of the balls altered were only Pats balls). There is proof someone did something,just we do not know who. Belichick and Brady know this, and have been told this. They will deny deny deny.

They will get away with it as a result. However, the sporting world will know. They will have the reputation they deserve.

Sorry.

So let me see if I'm following your non "gray area" here, Owl...

Supposedly the Colts brought to the attention of the NFL that the Patriots were cheating by using underinflated balls...yet the officials waited until halftime to check the balls that the Patriots were using? Why would they do that? That makes absolutely ZERO sense! If a team went to the NFL with this it's inconceivable that the NFL would do nothing about it until the second half of a playoff game. I keep hearing all these claims that someone went to the NFL about this earlier and yet it's NEVER substantiated!

The same is with the story that the officials investigated because the Colts defensive back who intercepted Brady thought the ball was soft. That player has subsequently come out and said he did not make any such claim. So who's making up all of these claims from "un-named sources"? Is the media in such a lather to "break" this story that they're running with a guy who heard a guy who heard it from another guy as their "proof"? If so that's pretty pathetic.

This whole "scandal" is a joke! The Patriots supposedly have this huge advantage of playing with a softer ball in the first half but the score is 17 to 7 at the end of the second quarter and it's still anyone's game! So the officials test the Patriot's balls...find them too soft...inflate them and then the Patriots proceed to steamroll the Colts 28 to 0 in the second half! So where was the huge advantage? Was Tom Brady suddenly unable to throw balls to his receivers? Were they suddenly unable to catch them? DID YOU MORONS EVEN WATCH THAT GAME? I mean seriously...what the hell is this all about? Do you hate the Patriots that much that you're seriously calling for Tom Brady to be suspended from the Super Bowl? Are you really that far around the bend on this?

the refs did check the balls at the beginning of the game. They checked them again at half time. The article I read indicated that they had planned on doing that before the game started.

 

[Oldstyle]

I wonder if anyone knows the first time this was brought to attention of the NFL was after the first Colts Pats game this year. Brady threw two ints and the equipment manager had access to both of those balls. He saw the balls were under pressure and it was significant.

Hence, the reasons why the refs checked the ball pressure are half time of the championship game. The first game was in a dome and the weather was not a factor.

Those of you bringing up that the Pats won the game continue to use a fallacy. That is totally irrelevant. No one mentions who won a game if a baseball player is caught corking their bat or if a pitcher doctors the baseball. It is not part of the conversation. It is all about the fact that they were caught altering the official ball, outside of regulations which is in essence......CHEATING.

Sorry, this is not a gray area. This is black and white. Cheating is cheating. I know it is hard to hear for the Pats fans, but that is what it is. Now, spare us with the temperature, or there is no proof they did anything (11 balls were way under and that is not a debate and all of the balls altered were only Pats balls). There is proof someone did something,just we do not know who. Belichick and Brady know this, and have been told this. They will deny deny deny.

They will get away with it as a result. However, the sporting world will know. They will have the reputation they deserve.

Sorry.

So let me see if I'm following your non "gray area" here, Owl...

Supposedly the Colts brought to the attention of the NFL that the Patriots were cheating by using underinflated balls...yet the officials waited until halftime to check the balls that the Patriots were using? Why would they do that? That makes absolutely ZERO sense! If a team went to the NFL with this it's inconceivable that the NFL would do nothing about it until the second half of a playoff game. I keep hearing all these claims that someone went to the NFL about this earlier and yet it's NEVER substantiated!

The same is with the story that the officials investigated because the Colts defensive back who intercepted Brady thought the ball was soft. That player has subsequently come out and said he did not make any such claim. So who's making up all of these claims from "un-named sources"? Is the media in such a lather to "break" this story that they're running with a guy who heard a guy who heard it from another guy as their "proof"? If so that's pretty pathetic.

This whole "scandal" is a joke! The Patriots supposedly have this huge advantage of playing with a softer ball in the first half but the score is 17 to 7 at the end of the second quarter and it's still anyone's game! So the officials test the Patriot's balls...find them too soft...inflate them and then the Patriots proceed to steamroll the Colts 28 to 0 in the second half! So where was the huge advantage? Was Tom Brady suddenly unable to throw balls to his receivers? Were they suddenly unable to catch them? DID YOU MORONS EVEN WATCH THAT GAME? I mean seriously...what the hell is this all about? Do you hate the Patriots that much that you're seriously calling for Tom Brady to be suspended from the Super Bowl? Are you really that far around the bend on this?

Then let us not have rules at all! Let baseball players cork bats! Let the pitchers put snot or vaseline or ball sweat on the balls they pitch! Let golfers alter their clubs and allow them to bring in whatever fucking ball they want!

No, there were rules, the Pats broke the rules. 11 balls were significantly deflated. All of them were Pats balls.

Yeah, the poor Pats are so fucking picked on by everyone. They were actually caught ILLEGALLY VIDEO TAPING. No, they were not allowed to do it. They were fined and draft picks were taken. I know to tuck rule Pats fans the NFL is just so jealous and they just target the poor Pats, who have not won it all since 2004.

I wonder what the Saints fans think. Their coach was suspended for a year for something every team does.

The poor Pats. I think we should let the Pats do whatever they want.

Let's revisit "Spygate"...shall we? The Patriots are singled out for doing something that multiple other coaches admitted was common practice. What idiots like you don't seem to know is that videotaping opponents wasn't illegal at all as long as you do it from certain areas.
The "Game Operations Manual" states that "no video recording devices of any kind are permitted to be in use in the coaches' booth, on the field, or in the locker room during the game." The manual states that "all video shooting locations must be enclosed on all sides with a roof overhead." The Patriots were singled out and fined $250,000 plus the loss of a first round draft pick because they had someone taping signals from the sideline instead of from an "approved" shooting location. Even Eric Mangini admitted that what the Patriots were doing didn't give them any advantage.
"In 2012, nearly five years removed from the incident, former Jets head coach Eric Mangini stated that "I think when you look at the history of success that [the Patriots] had after that incident, it’s pretty obvious that it didn’t play any type of significant role in the victories [the Patriots] had or the success that [the Patriots] had."[14] As of the conclusion of the 2011 NFL season, the Patriots had the best record in the NFL since Spygate, compiling a 48-16 record from 2008-11 (the Pittsburgh Steelers and New Orleans Saints were second best over that span at 45-19).[27] Mangini was employed by the Patriots as an assistant coach and has three Super Bowl rings with the team. The Patriots won 69.3 percent of their games while they were presumably taping signals; they have won 75.6 percent of games after the spygate scandal.

The TRUTH is that "Spygate" was as big an overreaction to a minor rules violation as "Deflategate" has become. Jealous fans who support losing teams have their panties in a bunch because they think the Patriots win by "cheating". It's laughable. The Patriots win because they have a better coaching staff than you do! The Patriots win because they have a better quarterback than you do! The Patriots win because they have a better owner than you do! The Patriots win because they have a better TEAM than you do!

 

[Oldstyle]

I wonder if anyone knows the first time this was brought to attention of the NFL was after the first Colts Pats game this year. Brady threw two ints and the equipment manager had access to both of those balls. He saw the balls were under pressure and it was significant.

Hence, the reasons why the refs checked the ball pressure are half time of the championship game. The first game was in a dome and the weather was not a factor.

Those of you bringing up that the Pats won the game continue to use a fallacy. That is totally irrelevant. No one mentions who won a game if a baseball player is caught corking their bat or if a pitcher doctors the baseball. It is not part of the conversation. It is all about the fact that they were caught altering the official ball, outside of regulations which is in essence......CHEATING.

Sorry, this is not a gray area. This is black and white. Cheating is cheating. I know it is hard to hear for the Pats fans, but that is what it is. Now, spare us with the temperature, or there is no proof they did anything (11 balls were way under and that is not a debate and all of the balls altered were only Pats balls). There is proof someone did something,just we do not know who. Belichick and Brady know this, and have been told this. They will deny deny deny.

They will get away with it as a result. However, the sporting world will know. They will have the reputation they deserve.

Sorry.

So let me see if I'm following your non "gray area" here, Owl...

Supposedly the Colts brought to the attention of the NFL that the Patriots were cheating by using underinflated balls...yet the officials waited until halftime to check the balls that the Patriots were using? Why would they do that? That makes absolutely ZERO sense! If a team went to the NFL with this it's inconceivable that the NFL would do nothing about it until the second half of a playoff game. I keep hearing all these claims that someone went to the NFL about this earlier and yet it's NEVER substantiated!

The same is with the story that the officials investigated because the Colts defensive back who intercepted Brady thought the ball was soft. That player has subsequently come out and said he did not make any such claim. So who's making up all of these claims from "un-named sources"? Is the media in such a lather to "break" this story that they're running with a guy who heard a guy who heard it from another guy as their "proof"? If so that's pretty pathetic.

This whole "scandal" is a joke! The Patriots supposedly have this huge advantage of playing with a softer ball in the first half but the score is 17 to 7 at the end of the second quarter and it's still anyone's game! So the officials test the Patriot's balls...find them too soft...inflate them and then the Patriots proceed to steamroll the Colts 28 to 0 in the second half! So where was the huge advantage? Was Tom Brady suddenly unable to throw balls to his receivers? Were they suddenly unable to catch them? DID YOU MORONS EVEN WATCH THAT GAME? I mean seriously...what the hell is this all about? Do you hate the Patriots that much that you're seriously calling for Tom Brady to be suspended from the Super Bowl? Are you really that far around the bend on this?

the refs did check the balls at the beginning of the game. They checked them again at half time. The article I read indicated that they had planned on doing that before the game started.

So they "planned" to check the balls before the game started? Did they just forget to do so? Do you have any idea how implausible that article is if that's what they are claiming?

 

[Freewill]

I wonder if anyone knows the first time this was brought to attention of the NFL was after the first Colts Pats game this year. Brady threw two ints and the equipment manager had access to both of those balls. He saw the balls were under pressure and it was significant.

Hence, the reasons why the refs checked the ball pressure are half time of the championship game. The first game was in a dome and the weather was not a factor.

Those of you bringing up that the Pats won the game continue to use a fallacy. That is totally irrelevant. No one mentions who won a game if a baseball player is caught corking their bat or if a pitcher doctors the baseball. It is not part of the conversation. It is all about the fact that they were caught altering the official ball, outside of regulations which is in essence......CHEATING.

Sorry, this is not a gray area. This is black and white. Cheating is cheating. I know it is hard to hear for the Pats fans, but that is what it is. Now, spare us with the temperature, or there is no proof they did anything (11 balls were way under and that is not a debate and all of the balls altered were only Pats balls). There is proof someone did something,just we do not know who. Belichick and Brady know this, and have been told this. They will deny deny deny.

They will get away with it as a result. However, the sporting world will know. They will have the reputation they deserve.

Sorry.

So let me see if I'm following your non "gray area" here, Owl...

Supposedly the Colts brought to the attention of the NFL that the Patriots were cheating by using underinflated balls...yet the officials waited until halftime to check the balls that the Patriots were using? Why would they do that? That makes absolutely ZERO sense! If a team went to the NFL with this it's inconceivable that the NFL would do nothing about it until the second half of a playoff game. I keep hearing all these claims that someone went to the NFL about this earlier and yet it's NEVER substantiated!

The same is with the story that the officials investigated because the Colts defensive back who intercepted Brady thought the ball was soft. That player has subsequently come out and said he did not make any such claim. So who's making up all of these claims from "un-named sources"? Is the media in such a lather to "break" this story that they're running with a guy who heard a guy who heard it from another guy as their "proof"? If so that's pretty pathetic.

This whole "scandal" is a joke! The Patriots supposedly have this huge advantage of playing with a softer ball in the first half but the score is 17 to 7 at the end of the second quarter and it's still anyone's game! So the officials test the Patriot's balls...find them too soft...inflate them and then the Patriots proceed to steamroll the Colts 28 to 0 in the second half! So where was the huge advantage? Was Tom Brady suddenly unable to throw balls to his receivers? Were they suddenly unable to catch them? DID YOU MORONS EVEN WATCH THAT GAME? I mean seriously...what the hell is this all about? Do you hate the Patriots that much that you're seriously calling for Tom Brady to be suspended from the Super Bowl? Are you really that far around the bend on this?

the refs did check the balls at the beginning of the game. They checked them again at half time. The article I read indicated that they had planned on doing that before the game started.

So they "planned" to check the balls before the game started? Did they just forget to do so? Do you have any idea how implausible that article is if that's what they are claiming?

As required by the NFL rules the balls WERE checked before the game as always. They are not always check at half time. That is the difference.

They did it that way to prove without doubt someone doctored the balls.

 

[BluePhantom]

Very interesting article

"For whatever reason, the Patriots do have exceptional ball security, especially for an outdoors team. And I mean exceptional..NE's ball security was an outlier to the tune of several standard deviations. The charts are convincing, and the implication is that NE benefitted from under-inflated balls is unmistakable. "

The Patriots Have Incredible Ball Security - Advanced Football Analytics

WOW! The second chart is EXTREMELY damning to the Patriots.

By the way, that dive also roughly coincides with BJGE being their primary back. Not to mention how much fuss has been made over the years about how quick Belichick is to bench any RB on his team who does fumble.

Perhaps but it's three standard deviations better sustained over six seasons. One season where they accomplished that would be amazing.....six?!?!? Impossible to have occurred naturally or by simple player substitution

 

[Theowl32]

I wonder if anyone knows the first time this was brought to attention of the NFL was after the first Colts Pats game this year. Brady threw two ints and the equipment manager had access to both of those balls. He saw the balls were under pressure and it was significant.

Hence, the reasons why the refs checked the ball pressure are half time of the championship game. The first game was in a dome and the weather was not a factor.

Those of you bringing up that the Pats won the game continue to use a fallacy. That is totally irrelevant. No one mentions who won a game if a baseball player is caught corking their bat or if a pitcher doctors the baseball. It is not part of the conversation. It is all about the fact that they were caught altering the official ball, outside of regulations which is in essence......CHEATING.

Sorry, this is not a gray area. This is black and white. Cheating is cheating. I know it is hard to hear for the Pats fans, but that is what it is. Now, spare us with the temperature, or there is no proof they did anything (11 balls were way under and that is not a debate and all of the balls altered were only Pats balls). There is proof someone did something,just we do not know who. Belichick and Brady know this, and have been told this. They will deny deny deny.

They will get away with it as a result. However, the sporting world will know. They will have the reputation they deserve.

Sorry.

So let me see if I'm following your non "gray area" here, Owl...

Supposedly the Colts brought to the attention of the NFL that the Patriots were cheating by using underinflated balls...yet the officials waited until halftime to check the balls that the Patriots were using? Why would they do that? That makes absolutely ZERO sense! If a team went to the NFL with this it's inconceivable that the NFL would do nothing about it until the second half of a playoff game. I keep hearing all these claims that someone went to the NFL about this earlier and yet it's NEVER substantiated!

The same is with the story that the officials investigated because the Colts defensive back who intercepted Brady thought the ball was soft. That player has subsequently come out and said he did not make any such claim. So who's making up all of these claims from "un-named sources"? Is the media in such a lather to "break" this story that they're running with a guy who heard a guy who heard it from another guy as their "proof"? If so that's pretty pathetic.

This whole "scandal" is a joke! The Patriots supposedly have this huge advantage of playing with a softer ball in the first half but the score is 17 to 7 at the end of the second quarter and it's still anyone's game! So the officials test the Patriot's balls...find them too soft...inflate them and then the Patriots proceed to steamroll the Colts 28 to 0 in the second half! So where was the huge advantage? Was Tom Brady suddenly unable to throw balls to his receivers? Were they suddenly unable to catch them? DID YOU MORONS EVEN WATCH THAT GAME? I mean seriously...what the hell is this all about? Do you hate the Patriots that much that you're seriously calling for Tom Brady to be suspended from the Super Bowl? Are you really that far around the bend on this?

Then let us not have rules at all! Let baseball players cork bats! Let the pitchers put snot or vaseline or ball sweat on the balls they pitch! Let golfers alter their clubs and allow them to bring in whatever fucking ball they want!

No, there were rules, the Pats broke the rules. 11 balls were significantly deflated. All of them were Pats balls.

Yeah, the poor Pats are so fucking picked on by everyone. They were actually caught ILLEGALLY VIDEO TAPING. No, they were not allowed to do it. They were fined and draft picks were taken. I know to tuck rule Pats fans the NFL is just so jealous and they just target the poor Pats, who have not won it all since 2004.

I wonder what the Saints fans think. Their coach was suspended for a year for something every team does.

The poor Pats. I think we should let the Pats do whatever they want.

Let's revisit "Spygate"...shall we? The Patriots are singled out for doing something that multiple other coaches admitted was common practice. What idiots like you don't seem to know is that videotaping opponents wasn't illegal at all as long as you do it from certain areas.
The "Game Operations Manual" states that "no video recording devices of any kind are permitted to be in use in the coaches' booth, on the field, or in the locker room during the game." The manual states that "all video shooting locations must be enclosed on all sides with a roof overhead." The Patriots were singled out and fined $250,000 plus the loss of a first round draft pick because they had someone taping signals from the sideline instead of from an "approved" shooting location. Even Eric Mangini admitted that what the Patriots were doing didn't give them any advantage.
"In 2012, nearly five years removed from the incident, former Jets head coach Eric Mangini stated that "I think when you look at the history of success that [the Patriots] had after that incident, it’s pretty obvious that it didn’t play any type of significant role in the victories [the Patriots] had or the success that [the Patriots] had."[14] As of the conclusion of the 2011 NFL season, the Patriots had the best record in the NFL since Spygate, compiling a 48-16 record from 2008-11 (the Pittsburgh Steelers and New Orleans Saints were second best over that span at 45-19).[27] Mangini was employed by the Patriots as an assistant coach and has three Super Bowl rings with the team. The Patriots won 69.3 percent of their games while they were presumably taping signals; they have won 75.6 percent of games after the spygate scandal.

The TRUTH is that "Spygate" was as big an overreaction to a minor rules violation as "Deflategate" has become. Jealous fans who support losing teams have their panties in a bunch because they think the Patriots win by "cheating". It's laughable. The Patriots win because they have a better coaching staff than you do! The Patriots win because they have a better quarterback than you do! The Patriots win because they have a better owner than you do! The Patriots win because they have a better TEAM than you do!

Waaaaaa! People were just jealous!

That is it? Fucking pats fans.

We will never know the real impact and sure as shit do not know the full story. The tapes were burned. Either way they violated the rules and they knowingly did it. You can sit there as a biased pats fan with your biased opinions and pretend the Patriots should be allowed to just illegally video tape teams walk troughs, illegally fuck with the footballs, or just be able to do whatever the fuck they want.

What the fuck ever. The pats have had 15 years of beneficial calls, starting with the fucking "tuck rule." Brady's little head or little knees cannot be grazed without 10 yellow flags being thrown.

Fuck pats fans thinking their spoiled team ought to be allowed to violate rules just because they are "minor."

 

[Oldstyle]

I wonder if anyone knows the first time this was brought to attention of the NFL was after the first Colts Pats game this year. Brady threw two ints and the equipment manager had access to both of those balls. He saw the balls were under pressure and it was significant.

Hence, the reasons why the refs checked the ball pressure are half time of the championship game. The first game was in a dome and the weather was not a factor.

Those of you bringing up that the Pats won the game continue to use a fallacy. That is totally irrelevant. No one mentions who won a game if a baseball player is caught corking their bat or if a pitcher doctors the baseball. It is not part of the conversation. It is all about the fact that they were caught altering the official ball, outside of regulations which is in essence......CHEATING.

Sorry, this is not a gray area. This is black and white. Cheating is cheating. I know it is hard to hear for the Pats fans, but that is what it is. Now, spare us with the temperature, or there is no proof they did anything (11 balls were way under and that is not a debate and all of the balls altered were only Pats balls). There is proof someone did something,just we do not know who. Belichick and Brady know this, and have been told this. They will deny deny deny.

They will get away with it as a result. However, the sporting world will know. They will have the reputation they deserve.

Sorry.

So let me see if I'm following your non "gray area" here, Owl...

Supposedly the Colts brought to the attention of the NFL that the Patriots were cheating by using underinflated balls...yet the officials waited until halftime to check the balls that the Patriots were using? Why would they do that? That makes absolutely ZERO sense! If a team went to the NFL with this it's inconceivable that the NFL would do nothing about it until the second half of a playoff game. I keep hearing all these claims that someone went to the NFL about this earlier and yet it's NEVER substantiated!

The same is with the story that the officials investigated because the Colts defensive back who intercepted Brady thought the ball was soft. That player has subsequently come out and said he did not make any such claim. So who's making up all of these claims from "un-named sources"? Is the media in such a lather to "break" this story that they're running with a guy who heard a guy who heard it from another guy as their "proof"? If so that's pretty pathetic.

This whole "scandal" is a joke! The Patriots supposedly have this huge advantage of playing with a softer ball in the first half but the score is 17 to 7 at the end of the second quarter and it's still anyone's game! So the officials test the Patriot's balls...find them too soft...inflate them and then the Patriots proceed to steamroll the Colts 28 to 0 in the second half! So where was the huge advantage? Was Tom Brady suddenly unable to throw balls to his receivers? Were they suddenly unable to catch them? DID YOU MORONS EVEN WATCH THAT GAME? I mean seriously...what the hell is this all about? Do you hate the Patriots that much that you're seriously calling for Tom Brady to be suspended from the Super Bowl? Are you really that far around the bend on this?

the refs did check the balls at the beginning of the game. They checked them again at half time. The article I read indicated that they had planned on doing that before the game started.

So they "planned" to check the balls before the game started? Did they just forget to do so? Do you have any idea how implausible that article is if that's what they are claiming?

As required by the NFL rules the balls WERE checked before the game as always. They are not always check at half time. That is the difference.

They did it that way to prove without doubt someone doctored the balls.

So you're claiming that even though they suspected that the Patriots were "doctoring" the balls...they let them play an entire half of football in a game that would determine who would go to the Super Bowl with balls that were illegal? Why would NFL officials do THAT to the Indianapolis Colts? It would be akin to an umpire thinking that a pitcher in game 7 of a championship game was doctoring the ball but letting him continue doing so until the 5th inning before taking the ball from him. I'm sorry but that's RIDICULOUS!!!

 

[Oldstyle]

I wonder if anyone knows the first time this was brought to attention of the NFL was after the first Colts Pats game this year. Brady threw two ints and the equipment manager had access to both of those balls. He saw the balls were under pressure and it was significant.

Hence, the reasons why the refs checked the ball pressure are half time of the championship game. The first game was in a dome and the weather was not a factor.

Those of you bringing up that the Pats won the game continue to use a fallacy. That is totally irrelevant. No one mentions who won a game if a baseball player is caught corking their bat or if a pitcher doctors the baseball. It is not part of the conversation. It is all about the fact that they were caught altering the official ball, outside of regulations which is in essence......CHEATING.

Sorry, this is not a gray area. This is black and white. Cheating is cheating. I know it is hard to hear for the Pats fans, but that is what it is. Now, spare us with the temperature, or there is no proof they did anything (11 balls were way under and that is not a debate and all of the balls altered were only Pats balls). There is proof someone did something,just we do not know who. Belichick and Brady know this, and have been told this. They will deny deny deny.

They will get away with it as a result. However, the sporting world will know. They will have the reputation they deserve.

Sorry.

So let me see if I'm following your non "gray area" here, Owl...

Supposedly the Colts brought to the attention of the NFL that the Patriots were cheating by using underinflated balls...yet the officials waited until halftime to check the balls that the Patriots were using? Why would they do that? That makes absolutely ZERO sense! If a team went to the NFL with this it's inconceivable that the NFL would do nothing about it until the second half of a playoff game. I keep hearing all these claims that someone went to the NFL about this earlier and yet it's NEVER substantiated!

The same is with the story that the officials investigated because the Colts defensive back who intercepted Brady thought the ball was soft. That player has subsequently come out and said he did not make any such claim. So who's making up all of these claims from "un-named sources"? Is the media in such a lather to "break" this story that they're running with a guy who heard a guy who heard it from another guy as their "proof"? If so that's pretty pathetic.

This whole "scandal" is a joke! The Patriots supposedly have this huge advantage of playing with a softer ball in the first half but the score is 17 to 7 at the end of the second quarter and it's still anyone's game! So the officials test the Patriot's balls...find them too soft...inflate them and then the Patriots proceed to steamroll the Colts 28 to 0 in the second half! So where was the huge advantage? Was Tom Brady suddenly unable to throw balls to his receivers? Were they suddenly unable to catch them? DID YOU MORONS EVEN WATCH THAT GAME? I mean seriously...what the hell is this all about? Do you hate the Patriots that much that you're seriously calling for Tom Brady to be suspended from the Super Bowl? Are you really that far around the bend on this?

Then let us not have rules at all! Let baseball players cork bats! Let the pitchers put snot or vaseline or ball sweat on the balls they pitch! Let golfers alter their clubs and allow them to bring in whatever fucking ball they want!

No, there were rules, the Pats broke the rules. 11 balls were significantly deflated. All of them were Pats balls.

Yeah, the poor Pats are so fucking picked on by everyone. They were actually caught ILLEGALLY VIDEO TAPING. No, they were not allowed to do it. They were fined and draft picks were taken. I know to tuck rule Pats fans the NFL is just so jealous and they just target the poor Pats, who have not won it all since 2004.

I wonder what the Saints fans think. Their coach was suspended for a year for something every team does.

The poor Pats. I think we should let the Pats do whatever they want.

Let's revisit "Spygate"...shall we? The Patriots are singled out for doing something that multiple other coaches admitted was common practice. What idiots like you don't seem to know is that videotaping opponents wasn't illegal at all as long as you do it from certain areas.
The "Game Operations Manual" states that "no video recording devices of any kind are permitted to be in use in the coaches' booth, on the field, or in the locker room during the game." The manual states that "all video shooting locations must be enclosed on all sides with a roof overhead." The Patriots were singled out and fined $250,000 plus the loss of a first round draft pick because they had someone taping signals from the sideline instead of from an "approved" shooting location. Even Eric Mangini admitted that what the Patriots were doing didn't give them any advantage.
"In 2012, nearly five years removed from the incident, former Jets head coach Eric Mangini stated that "I think when you look at the history of success that [the Patriots] had after that incident, it’s pretty obvious that it didn’t play any type of significant role in the victories [the Patriots] had or the success that [the Patriots] had."[14] As of the conclusion of the 2011 NFL season, the Patriots had the best record in the NFL since Spygate, compiling a 48-16 record from 2008-11 (the Pittsburgh Steelers and New Orleans Saints were second best over that span at 45-19).[27] Mangini was employed by the Patriots as an assistant coach and has three Super Bowl rings with the team. The Patriots won 69.3 percent of their games while they were presumably taping signals; they have won 75.6 percent of games after the spygate scandal.

The TRUTH is that "Spygate" was as big an overreaction to a minor rules violation as "Deflategate" has become. Jealous fans who support losing teams have their panties in a bunch because they think the Patriots win by "cheating". It's laughable. The Patriots win because they have a better coaching staff than you do! The Patriots win because they have a better quarterback than you do! The Patriots win because they have a better owner than you do! The Patriots win because they have a better TEAM than you do!

Waaaaaa! People were just jealous!

That is it? Fucking pats fans.

We will never know the real impact and sure as shit do not know the full story. The tapes were burned. Either way they violated the rules and they knowingly did it. You can sit there as a biases pats fan with your biased opinions and pretend the Patriots should be allowed to just illegally video tape teams walk troughs, illegally fuck with the footballs, or just be able whatever the fuck they want.

What the fuck ever. The pats have had 15 years of beneficial calls, starting with the fucking "tuck rule." Brady's little head or little knees cannot be grazed without 10 yellow flags being thrown.

Fuck pats fans thinking their spoiled team ought to be allowed to violate rules just because they are "minor."

Man, you are foaming at the mouth, Dude! Read that post. You're so delusional about the entire subject of the Patriots that it's scary. The tapes were "burned" at the request of the NFL...it wasn't something the Patriots requested. Will you at least admit that taping opposing defensive signals was in no way illegal? That the Patriots were fined only because they weren't taping them in the "approved" manner? That to fine a team's coach a quarter of a million dollars and to take away a first round draft pick is such a ridiculously harsh penalty for a such a minor offense as to be farce?

No, you'll never do that because you hate the Patriots so much that you want them thrown out of the league. Why? Because that's the only way that the shitty team YOU support has a chance of winning.

 

[BluePhantom]

I know what happened....the gravitational pull of the moon was centered right over the Patriots' footballs and 11 of their fill holes were all pointing up while the other ball the the Colts' ball were all pointing down. Thus the moon's gravity sucked 2 psi of air from 11 of the balls while the other balls were not affected for lack of a place for the air to escape. There it is....BLAME MOTHER MOON!!!!

 

[hangover]

If the Pats hadn't scored more points with properly inflated balls in the second half, there might be a cheating issue. But if cheating is cheating, all players that get flagged for holding, clipping, or interference should be banned from the game. Consistency please.

 

[BluePhantom]

If the Pats hadn't scored more points with properly inflated balls in the second half, there might be a cheating issue. But if cheating is cheating, all players that get flagged for holding, clipping, or interference should be banned from the game. Consistency please.

Dude stop it. There is a difference between a penalty in a game (that the NFL has determined punishments for) and manipulating equipment to enhance performance. Corked bats = suspensions. Doctored baseballs = suspensions. PEDs = suspensions. Car not up to specs in NASCAR = suspensions. Wearing gold cleats = apparently suspensions. Doctoring footballs by the Patriots = "oh we'll have a look into it...hey look at that pretty butterfly over there"

 

[Papageorgio]

the hilarious thing is that considering their performance in the second half obviously they didn't need to cheat. Maybe it was just like a baby pacifier and now that they don't need to cheat and they won't but they sure are taking a beating over it.

Or, is this just some sort of BS publicity stunt?

Could very well be, I don't put anything the Pats.

I think we all know that nothing is going to come from this incident.

But, usually the NFL, or anyone else holds off on comments until they are pretty sure of the facts. The NFL came out pretty soon afterwards so I am thinking they have been looking into this in other games and already know the truth.

Now they are huddled up letting the free publicity run it course and then they will slap the Pats on the wrist and that will be it. If they even do that much.

One thing that will come out of it is that the Pats won't cheat with the footballs.

That's the nice thing about Seattle and New England, you never know what either team will do to push the limits or outright cheat.

 

[Jroc]

I know what happened....the gravitational pull of the moon was centered right over the Patriots' footballs and 11 of their fill holes were all pointing up while the other ball the the Colts' ball were all pointing down. Thus the moon's gravity sucked 2 psi of air from 11 of the balls while the other balls were not affected for lack of a place for the air to escape. There it is....BLAME MOTHER MOON!!!!

45 -7 I'm blaming "mother moon"

 

[hangover]

If the Pats hadn't scored more points with properly inflated balls in the second half, there might be a cheating issue. But if cheating is cheating, all players that get flagged for holding, clipping, or interference should be banned from the game. Consistency please.

Dude stop it. There is a difference between a penalty in a game (that the NFL has determined punishments for) and manipulating equipment to enhance performance. Corked bats = suspensions. Doctored baseballs = suspensions. PEDs = suspensions. Car not up to specs in NASCAR = suspensions. Wearing gold cleats = apparently suspensions. Doctoring footballs by the Patriots = "oh we'll have a look into it...hey look at that pretty butterfly over there"

So something that doesn't effect the outcome of the game is cheating, but something that DOES effect the outcome of a game ISN'T cheating. You must be the ref that picked up the flag in the Detroit/Dallas game.

 

[Papageorgio]

If the Pats hadn't scored more points with properly inflated balls in the second half, there might be a cheating issue. But if cheating is cheating, all players that get flagged for holding, clipping, or interference should be banned from the game. Consistency please.

Dude stop it. There is a difference between a penalty in a game (that the NFL has determined punishments for) and manipulating equipment to enhance performance. Corked bats = suspensions. Doctored baseballs = suspensions. PEDs = suspensions. Car not up to specs in NASCAR = suspensions. Wearing gold cleats = apparently suspensions. Doctoring footballs by the Patriots = "oh we'll have a look into it...hey look at that pretty butterfly over there"

Not much difference. If you hold a player, there is a penalty for violating the rules of the game. Testing positive for PEDs there is a penalty for violating the rules of the game. Having a football inflated outside the specs of the rule book, there is a penalty for violating the rules of the game.

The fine is $25,000, per ball that comes to $275,000 fine and it could be more.

 

[mack20]

I wonder if anyone knows the first time this was brought to attention of the NFL was after the first Colts Pats game this year. Brady threw two ints and the equipment manager had access to both of those balls. He saw the balls were under pressure and it was significant.

Hence, the reasons why the refs checked the ball pressure are half time of the championship game. The first game was in a dome and the weather was not a factor.

Those of you bringing up that the Pats won the game continue to use a fallacy. That is totally irrelevant. No one mentions who won a game if a baseball player is caught corking their bat or if a pitcher doctors the baseball. It is not part of the conversation. It is all about the fact that they were caught altering the official ball, outside of regulations which is in essence......CHEATING.

Sorry, this is not a gray area. This is black and white. Cheating is cheating. I know it is hard to hear for the Pats fans, but that is what it is. Now, spare us with the temperature, or there is no proof they did anything (11 balls were way under and that is not a debate and all of the balls altered were only Pats balls). There is proof someone did something,just we do not know who. Belichick and Brady know this, and have been told this. They will deny deny deny.

They will get away with it as a result. However, the sporting world will know. They will have the reputation they deserve.

Sorry.

So let me see if I'm following your non "gray area" here, Owl...

Supposedly the Colts brought to the attention of the NFL that the Patriots were cheating by using underinflated balls...yet the officials waited until halftime to check the balls that the Patriots were using? Why would they do that? That makes absolutely ZERO sense! If a team went to the NFL with this it's inconceivable that the NFL would do nothing about it until the second half of a playoff game. I keep hearing all these claims that someone went to the NFL about this earlier and yet it's NEVER substantiated!

The same is with the story that the officials investigated because the Colts defensive back who intercepted Brady thought the ball was soft. That player has subsequently come out and said he did not make any such claim. So who's making up all of these claims from "un-named sources"? Is the media in such a lather to "break" this story that they're running with a guy who heard a guy who heard it from another guy as their "proof"? If so that's pretty pathetic.

This whole "scandal" is a joke! The Patriots supposedly have this huge advantage of playing with a softer ball in the first half but the score is 17 to 7 at the end of the second quarter and it's still anyone's game! So the officials test the Patriot's balls...find them too soft...inflate them and then the Patriots proceed to steamroll the Colts 28 to 0 in the second half! So where was the huge advantage? Was Tom Brady suddenly unable to throw balls to his receivers? Were they suddenly unable to catch them? DID YOU MORONS EVEN WATCH THAT GAME? I mean seriously...what the hell is this all about? Do you hate the Patriots that much that you're seriously calling for Tom Brady to be suspended from the Super Bowl? Are you really that far around the bend on this?

Then let us not have rules at all! Let baseball players cork bats! Let the pitchers put snot or vaseline or ball sweat on the balls they pitch! Let golfers alter their clubs and allow them to bring in whatever fucking ball they want!

No, there were rules, the Pats broke the rules. 11 balls were significantly deflated. All of them were Pats balls.

Yeah, the poor Pats are so fucking picked on by everyone. They were actually caught ILLEGALLY VIDEO TAPING. No, they were not allowed to do it. They were fined and draft picks were taken. I know to tuck rule Pats fans the NFL is just so jealous and they just target the poor Pats, who have not won it all since 2004.

I wonder what the Saints fans think. Their coach was suspended for a year for something every team does.

The poor Pats. I think we should let the Pats do whatever they want.

Let's revisit "Spygate"...shall we? The Patriots are singled out for doing something that multiple other coaches admitted was common practice. What idiots like you don't seem to know is that videotaping opponents wasn't illegal at all as long as you do it from certain areas.
The "Game Operations Manual" states that "no video recording devices of any kind are permitted to be in use in the coaches' booth, on the field, or in the locker room during the game." The manual states that "all video shooting locations must be enclosed on all sides with a roof overhead." The Patriots were singled out and fined $250,000 plus the loss of a first round draft pick because they had someone taping signals from the sideline instead of from an "approved" shooting location. Even Eric Mangini admitted that what the Patriots were doing didn't give them any advantage.
"In 2012, nearly five years removed from the incident, former Jets head coach Eric Mangini stated that "I think when you look at the history of success that [the Patriots] had after that incident, it’s pretty obvious that it didn’t play any type of significant role in the victories [the Patriots] had or the success that [the Patriots] had."[14] As of the conclusion of the 2011 NFL season, the Patriots had the best record in the NFL since Spygate, compiling a 48-16 record from 2008-11 (the Pittsburgh Steelers and New Orleans Saints were second best over that span at 45-19).[27] Mangini was employed by the Patriots as an assistant coach and has three Super Bowl rings with the team. The Patriots won 69.3 percent of their games while they were presumably taping signals; they have won 75.6 percent of games after the spygate scandal.

The TRUTH is that "Spygate" was as big an overreaction to a minor rules violation as "Deflategate" has become. Jealous fans who support losing teams have their panties in a bunch because they think the Patriots win by "cheating". It's laughable. The Patriots win because they have a better coaching staff than you do! The Patriots win because they have a better quarterback than you do! The Patriots win because they have a better owner than you do! The Patriots win because they have a better TEAM than you do!

Waaaaaa! People were just jealous!

That is it? Fucking pats fans.

We will never know the real impact and sure as shit do not know t full story. The tapes were burned. Either way they violated the rules and they knowingly did it. You can sit there as a biased pats fan with your biased opinions and pretend the Patriots should be allowed to just illegally video tape teams walk troughs, illegally fuck with the footballs, or just be able to do whatever the fuck they want.

What the fuck ever. The pats have had 15 years of beneficial calls, starting with the fucking "tuck rule." Brady's little head or little knees cannot be grazed without 10 yellow flags being thrown.

Fuck pats fans thinking their spoiled team ought to be allowed to violate rules just because they are "minor."

Now we're starting to see the depths of your hatred for the Pats. I'd like to make a few points:

1. The tapes were also played on a loop in front of assembled media outlets prior to a NFL press conference. It's not as if they never saw the light of day.

2. The Patriots have always acknowledged that they taped from the sideline. They never tried to hide their camera guy. Belichick has always maintained that he believed he was abiding by the letter of the rule, the NFL disagreed. It wasn't nearly as shadowy cabal-esque on the part of the Pats as people often believe.

3. What walk through was taped?

4. You do know that the tuck rule was called properly, right? It was a stupid rule, but it was called correctly. Also, it was called against the Patriots when they played the Jets earlier that same season.

5. Ah yes, the Brady Rule. Which of course you know is actually the Palmer Rule because the NFL instituted it after the 2006 season when Palmer was knocked out of a playoff game with a destroyed knee, right? And Brady didn't get injured until the first game of the 2008 season?

6. How would you define Brady getting favorable called regarding players getting to him? An analysis of Brady's 2010 season showed that he got 0.16 roughing the passer calls for every 100 attempts. That's one call in every 625 attempts. By comparison, that season Jay Cutler got 1.28 RTP calls for every 100 attempts.